Student & Alumni Blogs

One of our many innovative scholars is Michael Burger, who has developed expertise in controversial areas, including “fracking” http://law.rwu.edu/story/burger-fracking-and-federalism and the impact of the melting polar icecap http://law.rwu.edu/blog/young-faculty-star-tackles-impact-oil-rush-arctic
Now he is taking on a much broader topic: the making of the “American Empire.” With a co-author from the Princeton faculty, Michael is considering some fundamental understandings of property rights by looking closely at the treatment of Indian lands and the expropriation of intellectual property...

The crowning achievement for many 3Ls is the opportunity to serve as a law clerk to a judge after graduation. Judicial clerkships provide a great transition from the ivory tower of law school to practice, and often yield a mentor/mentee relationship that lasts a lifetime (as was the case for me). http://law.rwu.edu/sites/law.rwu.edu/files/flipbooks/spring2012/index.html#/20/
I am proud to report on the success of recent RWU Law grads in the highly competitive clerkship market: more than 15% of the class of 2012 landed judicial clerkships.
Below you can see how that number compares with...

It is hard to believe that ten years have passed since our first Diversity Symposium Dinner, held during my first year as Dean, but it proves to the larger community that we are committed to diversifying the bench and bar. It has been deeply rewarding to see the large number of attendees at this signature event, especially our alums as they make their mark in the profession. Among our guests this year were state and federal judges, the Providence City Solicitor, and the Legal Counsel to the Governor, as well as students from local colleges, universities, high schools and, of...

A signature RWU Law event is a coveted spot in the annual trip to Washington, D.C., which enables students to meet with leaders of the Judicial, Legislative, and Executive Branch all in a couple days.
This year’s highlight: after hearing arguments in two cases on the Court’s morning docket, they were treated to a private session with the newest member of the Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor. She graciously signed copies of her best-selling book, My Beloved Life (which is flying off the shelf).
http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/hardcover-nonfiction/list.html
Happy 2Ls (Asia-...

On February 20, 2003, a fire engulfed “The Station,” a small nightclub in rural Rhode Island, killing 100 and severely burning many more. The horrific event - the worst rock concert catastrophe ever - triggered almost a decade of legal maneuvering, as lawyers for the many severely injured people were thrown into an incredibly complex case, full of untested legal procedures and theories. Among them: the first case under the “Multiforum, Multiparty Trial Jurisdiction Act of 2002”; whether sloppy work by government fire inspectors was protected by sovereign immunity; how to force...

One of the traditions at RWU Law is the trek south for the annual national law school softball championships, hosted by my alma mater, the University of Virginia. The Mighty Quahogs have performed well in the past http://law.rwu.edu/blog/rwu-mighty-quahogs-successful-season-ends-virginia and this year was no exception.
The tournament featured teams from George Washington, Georgetown, NYU, Columbia, Rutgers (Camden and Newark), Cornell, UConn, Chicago, Fordham, Yale, Brooklyn, Harvard, Michigan, Notre Dame, Regent, Ava Maria, Florida Coastal, Seton Hall, Albany, Baltimore, American, Syracuse,...

RWU Law has many close links to Boston. We have alums practicing law there. Retired faculty and one current faculty member reside there. Current students have externships in Boston. http://law.rwu.edu/blog/want-work-general-counsel-cvs-red-sox-gtech-laun... More specifically, Professors Yelnosky and Brown actually ran in this year’s marathon (thankfully not hurt), as did 1L Ryan McCaffery (also fine).
I just learned today that one of our 3Ls, Dan Marusak, who is back enrolled at RWU after a National Guard tour in Afghanistan, http://law.rwu.edu/blog/saluting-rwu-law-...

This was the 20th year of the Judge John R. Brown Admiralty Moot Court Competition, held this time in the beautiful seaside town of Charleston, South Carolina (the Newport of the South?). While RWU Law won the whole shooting match in 2009 (the talented trio of Amanda Argentieri, Brian Eisenhower, and Ben Sussman), this year’s RWU Law team (Chris McNally, Kyle Smith, and William Yost) also performed superbly, picking up a “Best Brief” Award and losing by a fraction of a point to Richmond in the championship round. This represents another feather in the cap for the RWU Moot Court Program...

RWU Law is rightfully proud of the many ways in which its students can gain invaluable practical experience, and one of the most popular of these programs is our Criminal Defense Clinic, where students handle misdemeanors in RI District Court. However, every once in a while what begins as a small case in a lower court actually makes its way to the big stage, i.e, the Supreme Court. This happened just recently, as 3L Allison Belknap argued before the Rhode Island Supreme Court. Allison, in her third year at RWUSOL, is an accomplished member of the Moot...

Update: The Faculty Lounge has posted an updated blog that removed school funded positions from the "full-time, long-term, bar admission required" category. Roger Williams, like most law schools in our region, does not fund these positions, so those employment numbers did not change. However, Yale's employment rate changed to 77% and UMASS's changed to 23% in the "full-time, long-term, bar admission required" category. Here is the latest blog:http://www.thefacultylounge.org/2013/04/a-cleaner-ranking-of-schools-long-term-full-time-employment-minus-law-school-funded-jobs.html...